My book list this year is rather short this year. As I said previously, I decided not to listen to any audiobooks this year, and I really didn’t concentrate too much on reading anything early in the year. I’ve been making up for it the second half of the year, but it makes for a small list.
I recently listened to Doctor Who: Wreck of the Titan, which put me in the mood for some Jules Verne action. The Disney Experience has a very nice model of the Nautilus from 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, which comes with an optional stand if you’d prefer not to hang it. People who think Nemo is a fish need not apply.
Not keen on this one? Want more? Check out other Papercraft Friday posts.
Introduction
I remember the gaming Fall of 2007 very well. Bioshock came out on August 21st. Metroid Prime 3: Corruption came out on August 27th. Halo 3 came out September 25th. The Orange Box came out on October 7th. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare came out November 5th. The first Assassin’s Creed came out November 16th. Uncharted: Drake’s Fortune came out on November 19th. Finally, on the same day as the original Rock Band came out, Bioware’s Mass Effect came out on November 20th. In the span of exactly 3 months, 9 blockbuster titles came out. It’s enough to make a gamer shout for joy and sob on his joystick all at the same time.
Of those titles, a few had a big effect on me. I named Portal my Game of the Year, followed closely by Bioshock at #2. Mass Effect was #7 in my Top 10. While that might not seem high on my list, a quick look at my achievements shows that I started the game on November 21st, 2007 and completed it on December 5, 2007. It doesn’t appear by the achievements that I played every day, but in that 15 day span I visited every planet, completed every side quest, and finished the game in just over 40 hours of gameplay. Given the number of games I buy and never play, or start and never get far into, the fact that I spent 40 hours in 2 weeks on Mass Effect during that crowded Fall season says something about how much I enjoyed the game.
Still, I didn’t really wait with bated breath for Mass Effect 2. In fact, as soon as it was announced that it would be coming in January, after the holiday release season, I sort of put it out of my mind. When January came, I saw it on the list of upcoming titles, and it came back to the forefront of my consciousness. I started reading Mass Effect: Ascension. I played Mass Effect Galaxy. I got the first issue of the Mass Effect: Redemption comic. And I pre-ordered Mass Effect 2 from Gamestop.com, with free shipping. As the date approached, my anticipation rose and rose, until I regretted that free shipping option I picked.
Thankfully, my game arrived the day after release, and I fired it up that evening. So do I think Mass Effect 2 is a worthy successor to the original Mass Effect? Was my heightened anticipation rewarded?
Amazon released a beta today of its Kindle software for the Mac operating system. As the press release states “Kindle books can now be read on the Kindle, Kindle DX, iPhone, iPod touch, BlackBerry, PC and Mac, and soon the iPad.” I don’t know that I’ll ditch my Kindle in favor of reading on my Mac, but I’m glad to see the Mac love. With Whispersync technology syncing my bookmarks and last page read across devices, it just gives me one more option to get that latest novel read. Download yours today.
I feel immersed in all things Mass Effect lately. Aside from playing Mass Effect 2 on the Xbox 360 and playing Mass Effect Galaxy on my iPod Touch, I’ve been reading the Mass Effect: Ascension audiobook. Author Drew Karpyshyn was the lead writer on the first Mass Effect game, is co-lead writer on Mass Effect 2, and also wrote the first Mass Effect novel, Mass Effect: Revelation. I read and reviewed that novel. How does this one stack up?
There have been talks of Warcraft audiobooks for more than a year. As I posted in November 2008, Tantor Media recorded 3 books narrated by Dick Hill, but then they were mysteriously delayed and dropped off the radar. Now Simon & Schuster is reporting that the new novel by Richard A. Knaak, World of Warcraft: Stormrage, is getting the audiobook treatment, with an eAudio version read by Richard Ferrone. Still no word on the other three, but it’s a start.
The book will be available from Simon & Schuster’s website on February 23, 2010.
Year-end has been crazy for me, with my primary posting computer on the fritz. No top 10 lists this year, but a few posts on what I accomplished throughout the year, starting with books I read. Between audiobooks and Kindle books, it was a pretty productive year, with about a book a month. And some of those were pretty big books (two were 1000+ pages!). Here’s the list
Chapter 1 of Discordia: A Dark Tower Online Experience, which I mentioned back in October, is now live. Fans of The Dark Tower series by Stephen King should head on over and dig in. If you haven’t read the Dark Tower series… what’s the matter with you! Go do it now! Discordia assumes you have, so spoilers abound for those who haven’t.
This weekend I was listening to the Sword and Laser podcast’s interview with Brandon Sanderson, who is the author chosen to finish the Wheel of Time series off after the death of WoT author Robert Jordan. I read and enjoyed the first two WoT books this year, and am going to continue to work on the series next year, so the interview was of interest to me. During it, he mentioned that he had a new novel that was released this year called Warbreaker that is available to download for free on his website. The hardcover lists on Amazon for $18.45 and the Kindle edition for $9.99, so this is a great deal. It’s got 4.5/5 stars out of 153 customer reviews on Amazon, so it looks like it’s a good book.
I downloaded the Mobipocket version on my Kindle and it works great. If you’re looking for a good free read, give it a shot.
So this frood named Eoin Colfer, well known for his Artemis Fowl children’s books, was asked by the widow of the late great Douglas Adams to “finish” the Hitchhiker’s Guide series. Finish H2G2?! Well doesn’t that just take the biscuit! What do you call Mostly Harmless, for Zark’s sake!?
Actually, I don’t care about all that. Hitchhiker’s Guide isn’t sacred, and has appeared in so many forms that it’s almost too difficult to count. That Colfer was approached by Adams’ widow Jane Belson, not the other way around, is the right start for me, meaning it wasn’t a vanity project. That Colfer has always been a fan that appreciates the uniqueness of the series is a critical next step. And that Colfer was quoted as saying that “this is a wonderful opportunity to work with characters I have loved since childhood and give them something of my own voice while holding onto the spirit of Douglas Adams and not laying a single finger on his five books” says to me that this is a serious effort that deserves open-minded consideration.
So now that I’m finished with And Another Thing: Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Part Six of Three, I can truly and unequivocally say whether this Colfer chap really knows where his towel is, or whether I now have this terrible pain in all the diodes down my left side.
LIKED
Nostalgia. I listened to the audio, read by Simon Jones (who portrayed Arthur Dent numerous HHGTTG iterations), and I have to say that for the first 10-15 minutes of listening to him speaking new Hitchhiker’s, I was grinning from ear to ear. Nostalgia is not always good, as frequently the reality is not as good as you remembered it to be. But I’d say that overall the book was upbeat and fun, didn’t take away anything from what came before it, and gave us just a little bit more.
Unmistakably Hitchhiker’s. The Part Six detractors will hate me for even thinking of saying this, but the book felt like a Hitchhiker’s book. Possibly more so than Adams’ last two entries into the series. There really isn’t a series that feels like Hitchhiker’s, and someone with less appreciation or imagination might not pull it off. Colfer definitely pulled it off. Taking a new trip with Arthur and Ford and Trillian and Zaphod felt good because the tone and essence that makes Hitchhiker’s so special was there. It was a good romp in the Hitchhiker’s universe with all the trappings we know and love.
NOT SO MUCH
Guide Notes. I think it’ll probably be a universal criticism of this book that the Guide Notes were over-played. If I remember correctly, Adams phased them out and they did not appear in later novels. I appreciate Colfer bringing them back, as it’s one of those distinctly Hitchhiker’s type of things, and the early Adams’ novels that used them were more popular with fans than the later ones that did not. But they interrupted the flow of things way too much, and I really don’t remember any of them like I do about what happened to all the biros (ballpoint pens). So I appreciate their use, but wished they had been used more sparingly.
Missing the Mark. In addition to the Guide Notes, a few other things didn’t work for me. It’s hard to say that Colfer should not have done this or that, as he shouldn’t try to imitate Adams. But I found a few things distracting. Names that are puns was one of them. They didn’t really make me laugh, or groan. More like just roll my eyes. There were also a few too many references to previous things from Hitchhiker’s radio, TV, novels and so forth. When you’re on Part Six, it’s hard not to mine that previous gold for more nuggets, and even Adams may have done the same if he were the author. Not that I’d advocate getting rid of them all, but each reference used was an opportunity wasted to come up with something new and just as unique and fun.
RECOMMEND?
To people unfamiliar with Hitchhiker’s, I’d say start at the beginning. There’s too much history here to start at Part Six. But for Hitchhiker’s fans, I would definitely recommend it. There’s not much of a point in the story/plot, but is there ever in Hitchhiker’s? If you go into it expecting Douglas Adams, you’ll find ways to be disappointed. If you go into it expecting the essence of Douglas Adams, I think you will be entertained. Colfer does know where his towel is. And for Zark’s sake, listen to it read by Simon Jones!
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ZarkSeven 